UMKC Civil Engineering Materials Group Helps Design Award

This year’s Design Excellence Awards were designed and manufactured by Jerad Foster of Studiobuild.  

The top of the award is made from walnut; the concrete base is courtesy of the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Civil Engineering Materials group, headed by Dr. John Kevern, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. 

The newly renovated Civil Engineering Material Laboratory (CEML) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) provides fundamental hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students and state-of-the-art research facilities to assist improving infrastructure at home and abroad.

Students learn the basics of aggregate, concrete, and asphalt used in Civil Engineering by performing common characterization testing and making samples themselves. Undergraduate students learn how to design concrete and asphalt mixtures, understand quality control processes, and to identify material-related distresses. Research performed at the CEML facility will help to reduce the environmental footprint of construction by improving material durability and by the incorporation of “green” and recycled materials into new concretes. Donations to CEML facilities allow faculty to explore new materials and to support excellent students with materials-related interests. Additional support and interest is encouraged along with research and development projects of any size. Only together through collaboration and research can we hope to overcome many of the world’s challenges.